Hamas Views Gaza Conflict as Strategic Victory, Maintains Goal of Israel’s Elimination, Israeli Intelligence Reports

Intelligence presented to Israel’s senior political and defense leadership on Friday indicates that Hamas leadership interprets its ability to endure ongoing Operation Cast Lead as a significant triumph, despite Israeli forces controlling roughly 70% of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas maintains that Israel’s territorial control remains provisional and temporary, not definitive or permanent.

“They regard the U.S.–backed economic reconstruction initiative advanced by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, which proposes substantial foreign investment in Gaza, as a direct continuation of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin’s 1999 vision,” explained a senior security official familiar with Israeli intelligence assessments. “Even though these plans face delays, Hamas continues to believe in their eventual realization.”

The official noted that Hamas operatives have adopted symbolic identifiers — including beards, traditional garments, and flip-flops — to project an image of resilience and authenticity. “They claim their prolonged resistance against the IDF, the most powerful military in the Middle East, marks a historic achievement unrivaled by any other regional Arab force,” he stated.

Based on this mindset, Hamas is reportedly preparing for a significant IDF ground offensive toward Gaza City, even as internal tensions persist between local leadership factions and Khalil al-Hayya, who remains in Doha.

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Hamas Readies for Potential Ground Offensive into Gaza City

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“They are actively engaged in recruitment, weapons distribution, tunnel excavation, improvised explosive device fabrication, and short-range missile production — all while planning additional surprise operations,” the official said.

In parallel, the Israel Defense Forces’ Southern Command, Military Intelligence Directorate, Air Force, and Shin Bet have intensified operations targeting individuals involved in the October 7 attacks and those suspected of planning future terrorist activities or establishing new Hamas infrastructure.

These actions aim to degrade Hamas’s military capabilities and constrain its capacity to rebuild. According to the same source, given Hamas’s refusal to surrender weapons or relinquish control over Gaza to another governing entity, Israeli officials assess that a large-scale ground incursion into central Gaza — including Gaza City — is inevitable.

Such an operation would seek to dismantle Hamas’s underground command networks and neutralize highly trained battalions that retain significant combat readiness.

The official concluded that a ground maneuver becomes increasingly likely as the conflict continues.

Decision-making on initiating a full ground operation in Gaza City is expected to follow Israel’s upcoming national elections.

Legacy of Ahmed Yassin: Vision of Israel’s Erasure

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Ahmed Yassin, founder and former head of Hamas who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2004, declared Israel a “temporary entity fated to vanish entirely from the map and be supplanted by an Islamic state encompassing the full Land of Israel.”

In a 1999 interview with Al Jazeera, Yassin predicted the end of Israel by 2027 or, at the latest, 2028.

His forecasting framework relied on a cycle of 40-year epochs, divided into successive phases.

The initial phase, he said, began with the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 and lasted through the 1980s. The second phase marks the era of resistance, characterized by armed struggle against Israel. The final stage, according to Yassin, would herald Hamas’s triumph, Israel’s collapse, and the emergence of an Islamic state across historic Palestinian territory.

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